{"id":7697,"date":"2019-12-14T05:41:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T10:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=7697"},"modified":"2019-12-12T15:40:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T20:40:45","slug":"traveling-to-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2019\/12\/14\/traveling-to-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling to Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Georgia Southern TRIO Students Gain Lifelong Lessons In Puerto Rico<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"group
Georgia Southern TRIO students from the Armstrong Campus in Savannah traveled to Puerto Rico for a community service and research trip. (Top row, L to R) Evelyn Sorto, Wanda Lyons, Kaii Joseph-Maloney, Thomas Bullock. (Bottom row, L to R) Nadou Lawson, Michelle Villanueva, Latoria Jamerson, Chamori Robinson, Johnny Sumner, Adalis Ball, Demetrius Hurst and Monica Nguyen<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A student-focused volunteer trip to Puerto Rico over the summer took Georgia Southern\u2019s top honor as Outstanding Community Service Project. It also changed the lives of the 12 TRIO scholars who participated in the weeklong program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe trip was more than just volunteering,\u201d said Johnny Sumner, a radiologic science major. \u201cIt helped me overall grow into a better person. I learned that to really understand the world, I need to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twelve TRIO scholars were selected following a rigorous application process to participate in a community service and research trip on the Caribbean island that was decimated by back-to-back Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip, hosted by Georgia Southern\u2019s Armstrong and Liberty campuses\u2019 Office of TRIO Student Support Services (SSS), which helps transition, retain and graduate first-generation and low-income students, as well as students with disabilities, also earned support from the Office of Student Affairs and the U.S. Department of Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn providing a community service, cultural and research experience for TRIO participants in Puerto Rico, the objectives of the experience were to advance academic proficiency, expand financial literacy and increase career awareness through community service activities and research projects that respond to severe social problems,\u201d stated TRIO Retention Specialist Thomas Bullock, Ed.D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Group<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the students, many of whom had never boarded a plane before, arrived to the country\u2019s capital, San Juan, and rode into town by bus, they were mesmerized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe traveled from the airport, through the cobblestone streets of San Juan with very little talking; all eyes were captivated by the many sights,\u201d said Bullock. \u201cA lot of abandoned buildings littered our route. It was obvious that the island was still devastated by the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hosted by the Interdisciplinary and Multicultural Institute at the University of Puerto Rico, R\u00edo Piedras Campus, a guide introduced the students to the city, founded in 1509. They explored San Juan Gate, centuries-old forts, the Bautista cathedral and the governor\u2019s house, as iguanas scurried among the cobblestone streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"trio<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The TRIO scholars then participated in community service activities over the next several days. Their first stop was in the town of Cata\u00f1o, located just across the bay from San Juan, as the area\u2019s mangrove trees, which naturally protect the island from severe weather, were destroyed. TRIO scholars volunteered with Corredor del Yaguazo, which partners with the local government and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to preserve the wetlands habitat of the Las Cucharillas Ci\u00e9naga Natural Reserve, to clear fallen trees and boulders with rakes and machetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time was also spent with 7quillas, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection of the Tinglar, an endangered species also known as the leatherback sea turtle. Students built a sand embankment around the turtles\u2019 nests to act as an egg incubator, and conducted an extensive beach clean-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was amazing how much trash and debris we picked up on what seemed to be a pristine beach,\u201d said Bullock. \u201cEveryone gained an appreciation for the elimination of plastic straws from the Georgia Southern University Galley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"TRIO<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, volunteering with Casa Educativa de Cantera, a small school located in one of Puerto Rico\u2019s poorest communities, was one of the more touching experiences for the TRIO students, who painted the two-story school building, picked limes and enjoyed barbecue and fresh fruit smoothies made by their hosts. When the children arrived, they played with them, took turns practicing Spanish and English and handed out Georgia Southern pencils as tokens of gratitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRIO students also learned about the importance of the 17th-century, Afro-Puerto Rican musical traditions of bomba and plena music, which arrived with enslaved Africans, and alternated lessons with traditional drums and a fruit skin banjo with dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the trip, interactions with local residents, who shared stories about how the hurricanes personally affected them, left an indelible mark on all of the TRIO students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe seven days of community service in Puerto Rico not only changed my perspective of this beautiful and fearless country, but also opened my eyes to the conflicts in politics, health and environmental issues in Puerto Rico,\u201d stated biology and pre-dentistry major Michelle Villanueva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biology major Monica Nguyen agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,\u201d she said. \u201cThe trip exceeded our expectations and provided Georgia Southern\u2019s TRIO program participants the opportunity to learn as well as to give back to those in need.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corine Ackerson-Jones, director of the TRIO SSS program, is especially proud of the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were told from the beginning that this wouldn\u2019t be a vacation yet they still welcomed the challenge,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew this would be good for them but I just didn\u2019t realize the full impact until they came back and discussed their experiences. It will be something they\u2019ll never forget and I am honored to have had a role in making it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Melanie Sim\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgia Southern TRIO Students Gain Lifelong Lessons In Puerto Rico A student-focused volunteer trip to Puerto Rico over the summer took Georgia Southern\u2019s top honor as Outstanding Community Service Project. It also changed the lives of the 12 TRIO scholars who participated in the weeklong program. \u201cThe trip was more than just volunteering,\u201d said Johnny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":7703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-7697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-fall-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}